Well it’s that time of year again where we are trying to hurry up and figure out what we are going to get our loved one for the holiday’s. I absolutely love giving gifts. Before I was married, I remember getting my mom a Nutcracker or an Elvis CD I found at the store and I could barely wait until Christmas to give it to her. More times than not, I would end up giving it to her early. As my parents got older, one of the things they told my brother and I was to not get them anythingbecause they get themselves whatever they want anyway. And there is nothing harder than to try and figure out what to get someone who pretty much has everything. However, I have kids and they don’t understand that concept so I get or make something for my parents and my in-laws from Zack and Bella.

One of my favorite things to do is use their cute, little faces and make them a photo gift. Using sites like MailPix.com, you can make all your holiday gifts in under an hour, pay for them online and have them shipped to your doorstep. Super easy…and I like easy! Here are some of the photo gifts that I made:

I absolutely love these photo coasters! I bought a set for our house! These coasters come in a set of six. You have the choice of using the same image for all six coasters or using six different images. There is nothing I hate more than to get a water ring on my table, but with kids I need something that is easy for them to use. Heavy marble coasters are not a good option for our house. I would end up with dents in my table from them dropping them. Or a broken toe, because we know they would end up dropping it on my toe!

I made this keychain for the kids to give their dad. I was pleasantly surprised at how clear the picture turned out and how heavy duty the keychain is! Very nice gift!

I also made our Christmas cards through MailPix.com. And yes, I really did tie my kids up with lights and duct tape their mouths! Isn’t it cute?!? The cards turned out very nice! They are printed on a nice quality photo paper and they come with envelopes. Be sure to enter 10FREECARDS in the promo code section at checkout to receive 10 free cards!

And finally, my most favorite item…the fleece photo blanket with my kids picture on it. I originally ordered this blanket to have the kids give it to my parents and my in-laws, but my kids absolutely loved it so I may wrap it up and give it to them! We’ll see!

This is a new company and I have to say, I am mega impressed with them! I had a slight snafu at the beginning where the site was saying it shipped my blankets, yet I hadn’t received them. I contacted customer service and I had a response from them almost immediately. They told me that their system glitched and they MORE than took care of the situation for me and my blankets were printed and express shipped to me. This is definitely a company that cares about their customers and is willing to go the extra mile. After that incident, I happily ordered everything else you saw in this post. It shipped fast and their were no issues at all!

Like what you’ve seen and heard so far? Well guess what…my friends at mailpix.com would like to give one of YOU, my super awesome readers, the chance to win your own custom fleece photo blanket!! Read below on exactly how you can enter…please read the rules!! Also check out their blog!

GIVEAWAY!

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You must complete the mandatory entry first before any additional entries will be accepted. Please put each entry in a new comment. Thank you and good luck!!

Mandatory Entry: Who would you give this blanket to?

Additional Entry:

“Like” MailPix on Facebook

“Like” Diaries of a Domestic Goddess on Facebook

Put this giveaway as your Facebook status (one entry per day)

Follow @MailPix on Twitter

Follow @DGoddess on Twitter

Tweet this giveaway (one entry per day)

Follow MailPix on Pinterest

Follow ME on Pinterest!

This giveaway will run from today (11/29/2012) until December 10, 2012 at 9pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using the And the Winner Is plugin. An email will be sent to the winner and they will have 48hrs to respond or a new winner will be determined.

“Fill your hand with butter and gently slide your fingers beneath the skin of the breast…”

Those don’t sound like directions I’ve ever read in a recipe, but then again this isn’t like any cookbook I’ve ever used before. Fifty Shades of Chicken is a parody cookbook that was inspired by the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Written by FL Fowler, the author has stated that she was inspired to write the cookbook after reading the series.

It evoked something I’d never been able to express,” Fowler told People. “Then one day as I was tying up the ankles of a chicken for roasting, I realized why some of the scenes in the book were so strikingly familiar. It turns out I’ve been practicing BDSM for years – but with poultry.

Fifty Shades of Chicken is funny! It’s about a young chicken who finds herself at the mercy of a very dominating and kinky chef. Here’s the trailer for the book (there’s a picture of those gorgeous abs in the book!!):

Gorgeous, isn’t he?

Not only is the eye candy good, but the recipes are too! I made Dripping Thighs (minus the cinnamon…I don’t eat cinnamon) and not only was it good, but it was hilarious to have my husband call up and ask what we are having for dinner and me tell him “Oh honey, we’re having Dripping Thighs tonight“. I think it was the first time he’s ever been home early for dinner in the 10 years we’ve been married!

So, so, SOOOO delicious!

The photographer for this book was amazing. Not only did he or she capture the gorgeous abs of the man in the video, but the images throughout the book have those little touches that make them perfect for the kind of cookbook that this is.

This book is fun and makes the perfect gift! I think this will be my new wedding shower gift! Though I have to say, I kind of want to get my mom and mother in-law one for Christmas to see the looks on their face as they read each recipe and just exactly what they are supposed to do to the chicken!

You can find this book on Amazon by simply clicking on the image below! Enjoy!

Are you looking for that WOW gift this holiday season that will have your little one running around with excitement, you have to check out the Find Me if You Can book made special just for you! The Find me If You Can book, made by Bammco LLC, is a 30 page, hard cover custom book that features your child’s face hidden on each of the pages for them to find!

I just had this book made for my little niece’s third birthday and I wish I had a video camera going when she opened it! She was so excited to see her picture on each page. When you open the book, the first thing you see is a magnifying glass with your child’s face in it! My niece saw her face and pointed to it and just smiled! I don’t know if she quite got why her face was there, but it didn’t take long for her to realize what she was supposed to do!

If you’d like to order this book for a loved one this holiday season (or for any other occasion!), simply head to this page and fill out the order form! One lucky reader will have the opportunity to win a free copy of this book right here on Diaries of a Domestic Goddess! Read below for more details on how you can win!

GIVEAWAY!

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You must complete the mandatory entry first before any additional entries will be accepted. Please leave each entry in a new comment. Good luck and Happy Holidays!

Mandatory Entry: Tell me who you would make this book for.

Yep…that’s it! And because I love my readers so much, I am giving you a special gift…

**You can enter AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT! Just leave each entry in a new comment and make sure each entry is a complete sentence. Tell me what you want for Christmas, whether you have a real or fake tree, or tell me something random about yourself. Just tell me something!

This giveaway will run from today (11/25/12) until December 6, 2012 at 9pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using the And the Winner Is Plugin. That winner will be sent an email and they will have 48 hours to respond to that email or a new winner will be determined.

It’s that time of year again!! The time when we can bribe our children to be good because the Jolly Man in Red is watching. Please tell me you take advantage of this opportunity! Just a few moments ago my kids were fighting and I looked over and said “Zack and Bella, stop fighting. Santa’s watching, you know“. I know my time is limited as to how much longer I can use Santa to my advantage. I’m sure when they are 13 and 15, me saying “Zack and Bella, stop fighting. Your mother, the one who buys you stuff, is watching” won’t really work as well. There’s just something about a large man with a huge white beard and a red suit that has the kids behaving!

Besides using bribery to get my kids to behave, I also love all the holiday movies and music. I walked into Kohl’s last night and I was instantly happier as I hummed along to “Jingle Bells“. Two Christmas movies my kids are really enjoying this year are Prep & Landing and Prep & Landing: Naughty vs Nice. These two movies come as a “Total Tinsel Collection” in the following ways:

Blu-ray Combo Pack ($20.00 U.S./$24.99 Canada)

DVD ($19.99 U.S./$24.99 Canada)

If you haven’t seen either of these movies yet, you have to introduce them to your kids. They will love them! See for yourself…

Prep & Landing synopsis:

On Christmas Eve, a high-tech team of elves from an elite unit known as “Prep & Landing” ensures homes around the world are prepared for Santa’s visit. But when two hilarious little elves face unexpected challenges and are pushed to their limits, it’ll take a great big effort to save the season. Enjoy a heartwarming holiday classic sure to make everyone’s Christmas list!

Prep & Landing: Naughty vs Nice synopsis:

The outrageous yuletide adventures of Christmas elves Lanny and Wayne continue in this totally tinsel adventure that reminds us there’s room for everyone on the “nice” list. Santa’s stealthiest little elves must race to recover classified North Pole technology, which has fallen into the hands of a computer-hacking naughty kid, in an effort to stop Christmas from descending into chaos. Bring family together for a comical adventure that puts the Ho, Ho, Ho in your holidays!

The talented voices of Dave Foley (from A Bug’s Life), Derek Richardson (from TVs Men in Trees), Sarah Chalke (from TVs Scrubs) and Rob Riggle (from The Hangover) are used for the voices of Wayne, Lanny, Magee and Noel.

Bonus Features:

Operation Secret Santa, animated short

Tiny’s Big Adventure, animated short

North Pole commercials

Kringle Academy

North Pole News

Behind the Scenes with Grace Potter

My kids love all Christmas movies, but they especially like the Prep & Landing movies. What are your favorite Christmas movies that you like to watch as a family?

*I received a copy of this movie for the purposes of this review. All opinions and stories are solely mine.

I am ALWAYS looking for different things for my kids to read, specifically my son. It seems that most books written for children are geared towards girls. Unless they are non-fiction, but Zachary doesn’t always want to read about bugs and things like that. He likes to read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, but they are a tad bit above his level so I don’t really know how much he is actually reading. But really, I am just happy that he enjoys to read. So many kids would rather be playing video games than reading. Now don’t get me wrong, Zachary likes to play video games, but he spends a good amount of each day reading.

Sports Illustrated for Kids has won high honors from the Association of Educational Publishers and the Parents’ Choice Award. Since both my kids are so into sports right now, SI Kids is a great way to keep them reading and gives them something they are truly interested in. Each SI Kids magazine is full of:

Action photos

Easy-to-read stories

About star athletes

Helpful instructional tips from the pros

Packed with Humor, comics and activities

For more information about SI Kids, you can visit them at their website. If you’re on Facebook, be sure to “Like” them!

We’re approaching the holiday season and for a limited time you can receive an ENTIRE YEAR of SI Kids in both print AND digital for only $19.95! You can subscribe by going to this link.

Still not sure if you should get a subscription? Well let me give you FIVE more reasons why getting a subscription to SI Kids would be great:

It’s the perfect stocking stuffer.

It promotes reading for children who are reluctant readers.

Each issue is full of exciting stories, photos and games that are a perfect distraction while traveling.

No gift wrapping — it’s delivered straight to your door.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year through.

So there you have it…not only is the price right, but there are six more reasons why subscribing to SI Kids for your children would be a great gift this holiday season.

*I received a one year subscription to SI Kids and a stocking of goodies from Sports Illustrated for Kids for writing this post.

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